Iowa's Radio News Network
The Iowa Supreme Court has ruled an eastern Iowa woman can challenge her life prison sentence because she was only a teen at the time of the crime. Ruthann Veal was convicted of first-degree murder in the June 1993 death of Catherine Haynes of Waterloo.
Veal was 14-years-old at the time and was sentenced to life in prison without parole. Veal appealed, arguing because she was a juvenile, the sentence amounted to cruel and unusual punishment under the Iowa and U.S. Constitutions.
An Illinois woman who worked as a guard at the State Penitentiary in Fort Madison has been charged with second-degree theft and felonious misconduct in office. Jeff Uhlmeyer of the Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation says 26-year-old Jennifer Leggett was a member of the Army Reserve and tried to get time off she was not due.
Uhlmeyer says Leggett had put in for military leave when no military leave ever existed for her. Uhlmeyer says the state paid Leggett of Niota, Illinois, for 11 days of leave that she was never on. He says she had filed for the fictitious leave on two separate occasions. Uhlmeyer says questions were first raised about Leggett in late 2009.
Uhlmeyer says the problem was discovered by the Department of Corrections human resources director in Fort Madison, and the department then did an internal investigation. The department then asked the D.C.I. to do an investigation. Leggett resigned from her job at the penitentiary on January 14th.
Information on the charges says Leggett altered Air Force leave documents to make fake Army orders for the fake leave. Leggett was a member of the U.S. Army Reserve and assigned to a detachment of the 801st Combat Support Hospital out of Bartonville, Illinois.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Terry Branstad says he wants to lead a five-year cooperative effort downsizing state government. Speaking in Iowa City Wednesday. Branstad said current government streamlining by incumbent Democrat Governor Chet Culver and legislative Democrats is a good start, but he says it’s a “quick and dirty approach” taken without consulting people delivering state services.
Brandstad says he would do a better job than Culver, who ordered a 10-percent across the board budget cut. Branstad says he wants to reduce the size and cost of government by 15-percent in the next five years. “But that needs to be done in a thoughtful way, in a way that sets priorities, not in a meat ax approach,” Branstad said.
Branstad served four terms before stepping down and says Iowans want “an experienced leader” to handle the budget. Branstad says: “Somebody that will listen, somebody that will answer tough questions. Somebody that is not afraid to bring the legislature back and work with them to get things accomplished. Will not try to do it all by myself.”
Branstad has eight stops scheduled for town hall meetings through eastern Iowa. Branstad said he also wants Iowans to be able to vote on a constitutional amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman.
O.KayHenderson.com